In his first visit to Washington as foreign secretary, Hunt will urge the EU member states to ensure the allies speak with “one voice”

Press TV reports: In Hunt’s first major speech since taking over from Boris Johnson, he will reiterate the “special relationship” between UK and US and ask allies to ” stand shoulder to shoulder” against Moscow.

“And today the United Kingdom asks its allies to go further by calling on the European Union to ensure its sanctions against Russia are comprehensive, and that we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the US,” Hunt is set to tell the audience at the US Institute of Peace in Washington.

Hunt will also urge the US-led NATO forces to take a tougher stance against Russia over its alleged use of a chemical agent novichok in the Salisbury poisonings and the reunion of Crimea.

He will say that the West must engage with Russia, yet be “blunt” about how the Russian president “has made the world a more dangerous place”.

“[Russia’s] aggressive and malign behavior undermines the international order that keeps us safe … we must engage with Moscow, but we must also be blunt … [Vladimir] Putin has made the world a more dangerous place.”

Western nations must call “transgressions with one voice whenever and wherever they occur, from the streets of Salisbury to the fate of Crimea.”

Earlier this month the United States, citing the Salisbury incident, imposed sanctions against Russia covering national-security related goods.

Washington has promised to increase the pressure until Moscow gave “reliable assurances” it would no longer use chemical weapons.

In addition, without directly challenging the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s election as president in 2016, Hunt will specifically call for tighter regulation of online political advertising and new measures to prevent cyber attacks on electoral machinery.